


No Domestic Heart

by KaelsMiscellany



Series: A Hush Sublime [5]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Fluff, Happy Ending, Lexie isn't Audrey (but it's the only way I can add her in character tags), Multi, Plotting, Werewolves, ridiculous the lot of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 01:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11369880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaelsMiscellany/pseuds/KaelsMiscellany
Summary: Nathan knows Audrey and Duke are plotting something.(takes place a year after the events of The Road Forgotten)





	No Domestic Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are folks, the end.
> 
> Title comes from "Wilderlove" by John Mark McMillan.

Nathan knows Audrey and Duke are plotting something. He knows it in the way their conversations come to an abrupt halt whenever he’s near, in how they look at him covertly, how things have shifted, just a little, when certain things get mentioned. Knows it especially by the amount of metal in the house keeps _changing_ , which is probably what’s throwing him off the most.

The last time this happened it had ended with some of the best sex he’s ever had, even if he’d been initially wary of how many ropes Duke had brought with him. But he’d trusted them, and trusted them to stop when he asked them too.

So he might not know _what_ they’re planning this time, but he has faith that it can’t be anything _too_ horrible.

A knock distracts him from his musings and he looks up to see Arla standing in the open doorway, baby carrier in hand. He’s pretty sure he smiles at her, right, baby watching. “Hope you weren’t standing there too long,” he does have a habit of just drifting in his own thoughts when he’s got nothing to focus on.

She gives an amused snort as she walks in, “Nathan, you know I wouldn’t have waited for you to notice me.” Right, he’s probably blushing and is grateful that he can’t feel it. “She’s been fed and burped, so she should be good for a while. And we think she might finally be getting into a normal sleep schedule, and she’s napping right now so please don’t try to wake her up so you can make faces at her.”

“I would never,” he protests quietly as she comes around his desk and sets the carrier down on it, the bag of baby supplies ending up on the floor next to his chair.

“You have,” she responds with a roll of her eyes. “James and I’ll come pick her up in the morning.” And with that she leaves.

It does leave him a bit bemused, how Arla acts around them sometimes, but he does understand; she’s trying to learn how to resist the urge to cling to things that have been taken from her before. She and him don’t get along too bad, and she’s been getting better around Audrey since the whole ‘saved your unborn daughter from lilim’ thing.

Slowly, so that the back wheel doesn’t squeak, he rolls his chair slightly to the left so he can look down at his granddaughter. “Hey there Lexie,” he coos, one of his fingers coming out to trace a pink cheek, the softness of her skin amazing him every time—even though they should have expected it considering how long that part of Conli’s ability had lasted in _Duke’s_ family, although with help—it had still shocked him to feel her the first time James had put her in his arms.

He unbuckles her, but resists the urge to pull her out and hold her, respecting Arla’s request. When she wakes up, well, that’s a whole other situation.

Still he’s not surprised when there’s _another_ knock on the doorframe, followed by Stan nervously asking, “you alright chief?” Nathan probably has what Audrey calls his googly face again, the downside to not being able to feel his own expressions is that the force often catches him being completely unserious and it’s very much ruining his image. Audrey always makes soothing noises that are probably more for his benefit than any real sympathy whenever he brings it up, and Duke’s no help at all with his sniggering.

“Yeah Stan,” he’s pretty sure he’s schooled his features into something approaching ‘professional’ but it’s not a sure thing.

“The Beechards are calling again about permits for the forth, what should I do?”

Nathan lets himself have a small sigh. “Remind them,” again. “That Walter’s drunk and disorderlies means they can’t have them, no matter how chummy they are with Mayor Brody.” And at least now if they get the mayor to call in for them Nathan can resist it, an unexpected bonus to his transformation.

Stan nods and he’s alone again, but probably not for long considering.

-

Summer melts away into autumn and things remain wonderfully quiet. Duke and Audrey are still plotting something, the fact that it’s been going on for months now vaguely worrying for Nathan; what could possibly take that long to plan?

Not that he can really focus on that right now considering his house—and it’s only ever his house, Duke claiming the _Rouge_ is no place for kids, and Audrey saying her apartment is too small—is practically overflowing with ‘grandkids’. If the weather had been nice he at least could have unleashed them on the beach and let them play in the surf unsupervised. But it’s chilly and drizzling out, meaning they’re all cooped up inside.

At least Jean, Lizzie, and Daniel can entertain themselves with board games or movies, or in the case of right now both, leaving him enough breathing room to handle Lexie with the attention she needs. Especially when she’s blowing the most adorable spit bubbles ever.

He hears the front door open and close and seconds later Duke cheerfully cries out. “I come bearing food!”

Which earns him a raucous cheer and a thundering of footsteps. Nathan bites back a smile as he listens to Duke fend off the kids, eventually making it to the kitchen, with fewer bags than he’d probably come in with.

“Please don’t tell me all you’ve been doing since I left is standing in the kitchen and making faces at Lexie.” Duke sets the bags down and scoops Lexie out of Nathan’s arms. Nathan can’t feel it now, but he’s definitely pouting.

“Of course not,” he protests, going over and starting to unpack the groceries.

“You’d tell me if your grandpa Nathan was lying, wouldn’t you honeybunch?” Nathan sneaks a glance to see Duke making faces at Lexie, the hypocrite.

Nathan mocks a hurt sniff. “I see how it is, trusting a baby over me,” he harrumphs. “See if I invite you to Thanksgiving this year.” Which is probably the emptiest threat ever made in the history of the planet, but to be fair Nathan’s just fishing for kisses. His still sometimes confusing change from angel to dragon has certainly made him greedy.

“Gods,” yet it sounds less like an annoyed exclamation and more like affectionate bemusement. Yet Duke bridges the gap between them and kisses Nathan like he’d wanted.

Of course both their hands are full—Duke with Lexie, him with eggs—so they can’t exactly get too into it. But Nathan’s still pleased with himself when he pulls away. “You taste strange, kind of like silver, but not quite.” There’s something ironically amusing about that sentence; but it’s true. Duke’d clearly done more than grocery shopping during his trip.

“How observant,” Duke drawls. In his arms Lexie begins to squirm, he shifts her so he can start bouncing her; her hands go flailing and she makes a pleased gurgle. But as much as Nathan would like him too he doesn’t elaborate on his statement.

Nathan’s hiss—another new things to get used too—is vaguely aggravated. He’d told himself he would trust Duke and Audrey, but still. This is ridiculous. 

-

“I can’t believe,” Audrey says between bites of her reuben sandwich. “That I kind of miss the hectic days, rescuing cats and mediating neighborly disputes about bushes is just...bleh.” The foot that’s hooked around his calf moves slightly, so that both their legs are swinging. “I mean I don’t want murder, but maybe some mayhem would be nice. Just a little bit.”

Nathan smiles, taking a bite of his own sandwich. “I’m not so sure you should be saying stuff like that. Who knows how Haven might react.” She’d named him and Duke knights as a joke after all an now, well, they kind of were.

She gives a gusty sigh. “I’m joking,” she tilts her head up to talk to the empty air of his office. “I don’t actually mean it you quasi-sentient other part of me.”

He manages to hold back a laugh, but a snort sneaks through. Audrey swings their legs slightly harder and his knee bumps the side of his desk. He makes a face at her.

“You’re getting better at those,” she teases after swallowing. “Must be all that practice with Lexie.”

Nathan slumps into his seat, the back wheels squeaking slightly as his chair rolls back. “You’re all horrible and I don’t know why I associate myself with you riffraff,” he ends it with a haughty sniff.

It’s hard to tell if the expression Audrey gives him in return is a smile or a leer. “Oh you know full well why you associate yourself with us.” A blush creeps up his neck at the insinuation. “You luuurve us.”

He slumps further into his chair. “I hate you, that’s what I do.” It’s a big fat lie and they both know it.

“You won’t be saying that in a week or so,” Audrey’s leer-grin turns into mischievous smile.

Using his other leg he traps her foot. “Teeelll meee,” he groans.

“Noooo,” she groans back.

-

It’s the two year anniversary of the Barn’s destruction, and while last year they’d throws a surprisingly big party, this year Audrey and Duke insisted that the celebration be only between them.

Nathan agreed, but only because he’s certain whatever they’ve planned is the thing they’ve been planning for months.

Which he’s decided is pretty spot on the moment Duke mentions them going out of town for dinner, and that it’d be at least semi-formal—" _and not one of your work suits damn it, even if they are unfairly hot.”_

So he’d unearthed the suit he’d worn for their first big date after William’s death—which seemed appropriate considering. And probably spent far too long in front of his mirror fussing over his hair; an ultimately futile gesture really, but it beat pacing in the wasting time department. Before deciding that his crafting supplies could probably be re-alphabetized.

He’s halfway through all his ‘g’ items when there’s a sharp knock on the door.

Heaving a sigh of relief he shrugs on his suit jacket and goes to answer.

It’s only Duke on the other side, but that doesn’t surprise him since Audrey’s probably wearing heels and she wouldn’t be too happy about walking across soggy grass. Duke gives a low whistle as he eyes Nathan—at least Nathan’s gotten good at realizing when he’s blushing even if he can’t feel it. “Nice, fancy tie knot and everything.” Duke’s own suit is tie-less, but then again Duke always looks strange in ties.

“You don’t look half bad yourself,” Nathan jibes back, for all that he means it sincerely as well.

Duke rolls his eyes and holds his arm out, a gesture that both pleases and flusters Nathan. “A, I’m _always_ good looking, and B, I’m also always half bad.” The grin he flashes Nathan is cheeky.

Now Nathan’s the one rolling his eyes, smiling at Audrey as he climbs into the backseat of her car. “Hi.”

She twists around and leans over the center console to give him a kiss. “Hi yourself handsome.” With Audrey’s fingers touching his cheek he can feel the blush stealing over him again.

“Oh,” Duke butts in like he always does. “That’s what I forgot,” before Nathan can try to understand that Duke’s the one twisting in his seat and Audrey gets nudged aside as Duke leans in for a kiss of his own. When he pulls away Nathan’s pretty sure the smile on his face is borderline schmoopy.

Audrey smiles and twists back to face forward, but she puts a hand back, fingers wiggling invitingly for his own hand. As Nathan takes it Duke starts up the car and pulls back onto the highway. “Where’re we going?” Nathan’s been curious but held off on asking before.

“The same place we went last time,” so his suit won’t be the only thing repeating—although he’s noticed that while Audrey wearing her favorite winter coat, the dress underneath looks new and he’s infinitely interested in seeing it.  “I’m dying to try that squash risotto again.”

Duke huffs. “You know I could make it for you right? I won’t even make you pay.”

Just barely through the rearview mirror he can see Audrey’s smile. “I know.” It looks a little awkward but she uses her right hand to pat Duke’s thigh. “But I like having it as a special occasion thing, also I’m kind of afraid you’ll make it better, and then I’ll have to hunt through that damn menu to try and find something else I want.”

Nathan laughs at Duke’s petulant look. He doesn’t know why it would have taken them months to plan _this_ , but he’s happy that they did take the time. It’s an important date for all of them after all.

-

Dinner is as amazing as the last time. And even Duke’s jaw had seemed to drop a little—Nathan felt glad he isn’t the only one—when Audrey’d shed her coat to reveal a beautiful and slinky green dress.

Under the table their ankles are all hooked together, just the faintest slivers of skin touching skin, but it’s enough. It helps steady Nathan too, the last time they were here he’d barely begun his transformation, and now that it’s complete the sheer amount of metal in the restaurant is kind of staggering—although none of it is all that rare, so there’s no real urge to sniff it out and take it.

Their waiter clears the last of their dishes and seemingly as one the three of them lean back in their chairs, Nathan wonders if they’ll manage desert this time. At the moment both Duke and Audrey seem more than willing to just lounge and drink wine. Part of Nathan wants to rebel against such indolence, but that part can go suck eggs.

“This was amazing,” Nathan smiles at the both of them, he can’t get drunk but his cheeks feel flushed from the two bottles they’ve finished off. “Although I honestly don’t think this should’ve taken you months to plan.” Unless there’s more he doesn’t know about.

Audrey and Duke share furtive looks and alright, this isn’t all they’ve got planned. Nathan finds himself both excited and wishing that they could just stay like this for a few hours more, at least give him time to digest the massive amount of food he’s put away.

“You’re right,” Duke responds, “it didn’t take us months to plan this. This was the easy part.” Says the man about a restaurant Nathan knows for a fact has a month long waiting list. “Well, not the important part at least. Just the backdrop.”

Backdrop?

He watches intrigued as Audrey unhooks her small purse—he’d wondered why she’d kept it instead of putting it in coat check—from the back of her chair and opens it. “We have a question for you Nathan, or well, more like a…” She makes an adorable face as she looks for the right word.

“Laying of cornerstones?” Duke suggests, suddenly looking far too casual—Nathan finds himself suspicious despite everything.

Audrey inclines her head. “That, or a suggestion, or status change?” She shakes her head. “I guess it’s not all that important in the long run.” She finally reaches into her bag, fingers fishing around for a few seconds before grabbing hold of something. But she doesn’t pull it out just yet, tease. “I feel like we should move,” she says to Duke.

Who does sit more upright, but also gives a soft groan. “I think you might have to airlift me out of my chair Audrey. Anyways it would look kind of weird if we both did it.”

Even though Nathan has no idea what they’re talking about he finds his pulse picks up. His eyes unable to tear themselves away.

“True,” Audrey agrees her hand finally pulling out, her palm and fingers curled around something smallish, and square looking. Her eyes meet his and his whole body feels it. “Close your eyes for a second Nathan.”

He wants to protest, but does as she asks, because this is obviously important. And they want to surprise him with whatever Audrey’s got. His heart somehow starts beating even faster. His ears pick up a faint snapping sound, and the faint _sushing_ of something being pushed across the tablecloth. Nathan squeezes his eyelids in an attempt to keep them closed before Duke and Audrey are ready.

He feels one of each of their hands lay atop his. “Nate,” Duke’s voice is low and slightly rough. “Open your eyes.”

He does, looking down almost instantly.

It’s a ring.

The gold plating—even if part of him would love it a ring of solid gold would be both impractical and heavy—of it curls in the back of his mouth, it clashes a bit with the wine, but he can deal. The metal, titanium maybe?, that acts as the core is barely noticeable. The band of the ring is unadorned, except for a few narrow lines next to the gems that make up the centerpiece. There are two small rubies on the left and right, and six even smaller diamonds, three above and three below, on the top and bottom.

And in the middle is an opal, milky white, and in this lighting only throwing off the smallest flashes of red and green.

He looks from the ring, to Duke and Audrey, back to the right. “What?” Well at least he _sounds_ confused.

The two of them share a look. “Well,” Duke begins. “We can’t actually all get married, at least not currently.”

“But we thought that stating intentions early on would be a good thing,” Audrey continues. “So Nathan, will you accept our ring?”

Without really thinking about it he slips his hands from theirs, reaching out and picking up the ring. It’s cool to the touch, but he knows that will change soon. As his fingers run over and around it he can feel the smallest of bumps, making a texture that tells him it was handmade. “Where did you get this?” There’s a small jewelry store in Haven, but it certainly didn’t carry anything of this craftsmanship.

“”Faeries,” Duke replies blithely. “Audrey and I have been going back and forth for months, deciding on a design, choosing the right stones. At least we knew where the gold was going to come from.” The implication in Duke’s tone makes Nathan’s head shoot up.

“You didn’t?” Nathan remembers their brief bout of talk over giving him Niðeldr after they’d found out what it did, but it had petered off and Nathan had guessed that it wasn’t going to happen. But Duke had it reforged?

“We did,” Audrey picks up. “It was pretty easy to decide. Out of all of us you’re the one who sometimes needs the most help finding their way. And it seemed symbolic as well, you know it being able to help you find your way back to us no matter what.”

Nathan’s whole body feels like it’s being squeezed, seemingly unable to comprehend the amount of love this ring represents.

Marriage as a whole isn’t something Nathan’s spent a lot of time thinking about. Yes there were people he’d pictured him spending the rest of his life with—the only two that mattered now were sitting across from him—but even then he’d never pictured anything like marriage in any of those futures 

On the other hand Audrey and Duke weren’t exactly asking him to marry him.

Perhaps one day in the future, but not just yet. But the ring _would_ be a promise from now until their dying days.

The gold’s warmed to his touch now. He barely notices it as he slips it onto his left hand. “Yes. But I think you’re both missing something now.” It’s not exactly a cheeky grin he gives them, but it is fond and has an air of amusement.

Duke and Audrey both laugh softly. “We wanted to ask you first, because we thought it was important to do it that way, and because you’d appreciate it the most. I think Audrey and I both have ideas about each other’s rings, but you get a say too.” Duke’s hand rises up to lace with Nathan’s, leaving a spot for Audrey to join them.

She does, and Nathan feels complete.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Are there still more questions that could be answered? More stories I could tell? *eyes the two unfinished novels and other future short stories* Yes is the short answer. The long one being yes, but I've decided to 'save' them for the original series I've turned this into, something new/a surprise for those who decide to check it out. (it's still no where near being published, but I'll let you all know when it is). This also felt like the right place to end A Hush Sublime.
> 
> Which just means I get to start posting new series/stories. Of which there are many (no lie my posting schedule currently goes to the end of Sept). So stay tuned for more Haven & OT3 goodness!


End file.
